Friday, July 17, 2015

Last weekend I had the chance to visit my college roommate, Shelby, in Cleveland, Ohio. While I've been to Cleveland several times, this time was extra special since it was my first time staying in the guest room of her house! It struck me as very funny that during my visit I stayed in her guest room, but when she visited me last year I made her sleep on the floor of my 9x13' bedroom...

Shelby came up with lots of fun things to do on my trip, and I wanted to share some of the highlights. I got a lot of confused stares from friends and coworkers when I said I was going to Cleveland, so hopefully this post will prove that there's more to Cleveland than popular opinion seems to think.

On Thursday we spent the day in downtown Cleveland. We ate at Michael's Diner before taking an RTA train into the city. One thing I found interesting about riding rapid transit in Cleveland is that sometimes you pay before you ride and sometimes you pay after you ride depending on which station you're departing from.

Next, we explored downtown Cleveland a bit. Two of my favorite points of interest were the public library and the stained glass at Old Stone Church.

After the library, we walked to the Old Stone Church. It was pretty windy and drizzly outside, but I much prefer that to hot and muggy any day! I was unsure how often people went to the church just to look at the stained glass windows - especially when we rang the doorbell and a man said, "You want to look at the windows?" However, after we got into the sanctuary, a second man came out and cordially told us all about the windows and a bit of church history too. One of my favorite facts was that a couple of the windows were designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany!

“Beside the Still Water” (1915) by Louis Comfort Tiffany

“I Am the Resurrection and the Life” (1930) by Louis Comfort Tiffany

We finished off our downtown day at Pour. They had both excellent coffee and some of the friendliest baristas I've ever met! I would whole-heartedly recommend a stop at Pour if you're in downtown Cleveland.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Welcome to Brooklyn.

I would like to say that I am very generously calling the day trip my roommates and I took to Brooklyn last Saturday a "staycation." In my defense, I have only been to Brooklyn a handful of times and we had the whole day planned out....okay, fine - I don't have much of a defense.

The first stop of the staycation was the Renegade Craft Fair (RCF). I have wanted to go to one of these since I read about it on a now-forgotten blog in college. From their website: Renegade Craft Fair is the world’s preeminent series of events showcasing the best and brightest talents from the modern Maker community. It’s a weekend-long celebration of DIY culture; a thoughtfully curated marketplace where shoppers and micro-entrepreneurs make meaningful connections.

The Brooklyn iteration of RCF is conveniently adjacent to Smorgasburg. Kelsey and I thought it best to try some fries with garlic lemon aioli, just in case...

We left RCF and stepped into Rough Trade en route to lunch. This was a highlight of Amy's - Kelsey and I enjoyed it too, but lunch sirens were luring us onward.

We walked just a bit farther into/down/up/across/? Williamsburg and found ourselves at Kelsey's staycation destination - Jimmy's Diner as seen on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives. Definitely wouldn't mind going back here! I wouldn't mind a milkshake, burger, and fries right now now that I mention it...

Last, but not least, Amy's staycation choice - Milkmade. I would summarize the experience here; however, I don't think I could do better than Amy herself!

All in all, I think we all enjoyed our roommate mini-getaway tremendously! Our schedules conflict so frequently that it's hard even to get coffee together, so a whole day away was fabulous. Looking forward to the next one...which I may or may not have already scheduled with Kelsey and Amy ;-)